More than 6.2 million juvenile Chinook salmon have just been pushed out of a federal hatchery and into the Sacramento River, heading for the ocean through water that conservationists warn could be lethally low and too warm. Hatchery staff say their hands were tied because tanks are packed and keeping fish any longer would spike disease risk, setting up a grim tradeoff between immediate danger to young salmon and water managers’ drive to save cold water for the dry months still to come.
Crews with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service released the smolts from Coleman National Fish Hatchery this week, according to The Sacramento Bee. Golden State Salmon Association executive director Vance Staplin emailed the Bureau of Reclamation urging extra releases from Shasta Dam…..